Video: Lionel Messi dances past half of the Atletico Madrid team in mazy run for Barcelona that led to extremely close chance

In the 40th minute of this afternoon’s marquee La Liga encounter between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, Lionel Messi almost executed one of ...

In the 40th minute of this afternoon’s marquee La Liga encounter between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, Lionel Messi almost executed one of the best goals of his illustrious career.

Messi picked up the ball just past the halfway line on the right side of the pitch and immediately drove at the Atletico team, in an inspired effort to break the deadlock against Diego Simeone’s side.

The 33-year-old skipped past Saul Niguez with ease, before surging towards the area, evading a sea of Atletico players on the way.

Upon reaching the edge of the box, Messi used his sensational dribbling to squeeze through another three Atletico players, before firing a shot at goal.

The world-class Jan Oblak pulled off a brilliant fingertip save to deny the six-time Ballon d’Or winner another goal for the ages, in total it looked like Messi skipped past six different Atletico players.

The encounter ended 0-0, in a blow to Barcelona’s hopes to come from behind and win the La Liga title. Atletico now hold a two-point lead at the top with three fixtures left.